The Human Desire Behind Terror Attacks

Daesh daeshing it up. Photo via social media A sense of purpose can be intoxicating by MATTHEW GAULT Three men assaulted Istanbul’s Ataturk airport with AK-47s...

Daesh daeshing it up. Photo via social media

A sense of purpose can be intoxicating

by MATTHEW GAULT

Three men assaulted Istanbul’s Ataturk airport with AK-47s and suicide vests on June 28, killing 41 people and injuring 239 more. Islamic State has not claimed responsibility but Turkish officials believe the terror group is behind the attack.

From Paris and Brussels to Orlando and Istanbul, in Syria, Libya, Iraq and Nigeria — young men and women take up arms against the modern world and try to blow it up, shoot it down or dismantle it. But why?

Beyond the obvious religious and political motivations lies something darker … and more human. This week on War College, Oxford Brookes University Roger Griffin walks us through the dark internal lives of those who use lash out at the world with extreme violence.

Griffins studied fascism for years before turning his attention to terrorism. He believes that behind the brutal acts of the mass-shooters and violent extremists is a simple desire the modern world has a hard time fulfilling — a desire for purpose.